Birthday Boy

My big boy turned 14 today.

Did you hear that???? FOURTEEN!!!

Where in the world did the years go????

I have a constant family video playing through my head today, but it seems to be stuc on fast forward.

I am so grateful for the call to stay home when he was small, and the fact that God provided for that.

I am so grateful for the call to homeschool, and the fact that God provided for THAT.

I have no regrets about the time that we have gotten to spend together, and would not trade ONE minute of it to have been somewhere else, to have made more money, or to have a cleaner house.

And as the day quickly approaches when he will be off on his own, I am very grateful for what I feel is a very close relationship with my teenage son. I know not many moms can say that. And I know it might not always be that way.

I am grateful for the man I see God shaping right before my eyes. Trust me, God is doing the shaping, and not me. The wisdom, maturity, and love for others that this child displays are way beyond his years. And yet he is not missing out on being a kid: he loves to have fun, be goofy, lose himself in his video games, and pick on his sisters.

I actually have to remind myself sometimes that he is still a kid, as the temptation to treat him as the more mature person he acts like is always there. He never complains about being asked to babysit his siblings (even if it involves the occasional diaper change), or do an extra chore, or, I don't know, accompany his highly emotional mother all the way to China to bring home yet another sister.

This year I have seen him step beyond his comfort zone and join the high school's cross country team. A brand new sport for him, at a school he's not really a part of, in a brand new country!!! Things I would've never dared to do at his age if I were in his shoes.

Just last week I was having a panic attack after dropping him off at midnight to go off on a bus full of rowdy teenages to a cross country meet THIRTEEN hours away. He survived. I survived.

What I don't think I'll survive is what he told me tonight. And he'd kill me if he knew I was blogging about this, so NOT A WORD!

He has been asked to Homecoming.

Didn't see that one coming. I am NOT ready to be the mom of a fourteen year old.

Let alone one who's being asked out on dates.